Enthusiasms and expostulations, by Glenn Kenny

April 02, 2009

No Blu-ray for "Ran"

I didn't want to post this yesterday, as I figured it might be taken for a sick April Fool's joke, but word's come down that the Criterion Collection's Blu-ray of Akira Kurosawa's late masterpiece Ran has been "withdrawn from Criterion's schedule due to a rights issue." This is a tremendous bummer. The splendiferous Ran has had a long and largely ill-fated career on home video, with Criterion's wonderful 2005 standard-definition release finally getting it right. I can say with some confidence that their Blu-ray would have been magnificent. The only Blu-ray of the picture extant is, according to the mavens at DVD Beaver, pretty bad news.

Back when the picture first came out in the States, me and my, um, homies, latched onto it in a way that we hadn't for any film since The Shining back in '80. I think I saw the Kubrick, in the company of various fellow travelers, nine times in one summer. Ran, something like six, eventually. My friend Joe Failla reminds me that at my third viewing, his first, I deliberately ducked out of the theater to make a call as the epic fire and battles scene was about to start, and came back after the end, and asked Joe, "Did I miss anything?" What an impish douche I was back in the day...

Anyway, there's no further information readily available about the situation at this time. When there is, I'll update. Feh. It's enough to make you wanna take up crack.

This is indeed bad news. Do you know why Contempt was also taken off the Criterion Blu-ray schedule? Or why Fallen Angels is NOT being released on Blu-ray by Kino after they announced it would be their first release?

Commander Kenny, this is has nil to do with your RAN harangue, but have you received any of The Warner Archives films yet in your mailbox and, if so, will readers get a chance to read of your smiles or frowns regarding the sound, visual context and packaging of these treasures from the vault?